Budget & Tax
Curtis Shelton | February 14, 2019
State budget primer: Agencies and their appropriations
Curtis Shelton
As the legislative session continues, we will also continue our budget series on facts you need to know. So far, we have defined important terms and provided past budget numbers. Here, we have facts about Oklahoma’s state agencies and their appropriations.
State Appropriations
State appropriated dollars have grown by $1.6 billion, or 27 percent, since fiscal year 1995—the earliest year available online. According to the latest available data, appropriations accounted for 39 percent of total state spending in fiscal year 2018 at $7.5 billion. This is important to remember as appropriations will be the most talked about portion of Oklahoma’s budget. It is not the whole picture, however. Oklahoma’s total state budget is in fact nearly $18 billion.
Top 10 Appropriated Oklahoma State Agencies for Fiscal Year 2019
- Department of Education
- Health Care Authority
- Regents for Higher Education
- Department of Human Services
- Department of Corrections
- Department of Mental Health
- Department of Transportation
- Career & Technical Education
- Department of Public Safety
- Office of Juvenile Affairs
Again, it is important to note that these do not include total spending numbers. For instance, in fiscal year 2017, the state Regents for Higher Education was appropriated $810 million by the Oklahoma Legislature while its total budget was $2.7 billion.
Sources:
Curtis Shelton
Policy Research Fellow
Curtis Shelton currently serves as a policy research fellow for OCPA with a focus on fiscal policy. Curtis graduated Oklahoma State University in 2016 with a Bachelors of Arts in Finance. Previously, he served as a summer intern at OCPA and spent time as a staff accountant for Sutherland Global Services.